Oil-refining apparatus



A. R. JONES.

OIL REFINING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 9. 1916.

Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

I II WI I HH I A. R. JONES.

OIL REFINING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 9. 1916- 1,328,522, Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET' 2.

d/M-P UNITED STATES PATENT ormon.

ALBERT R. JONES, OF INDEPENDENCE, KANSAS.

OIL-REFINING APPARATUS.

Application filed October 9, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT R. JoNEs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Independence, in the county of Montgomery and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oil-Refim ing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to apparatus for treating liquid hydrocarbons and especially to the super-heater employed in cracking systems. It has for its object the produc tion of means for avoiding the agglomeration and adherence of tar and coky matters to the metal of the super-heater, by arranging the feed so that such matters, under the influence of heat and pressure, will settle and be trapped out of the body of the oil or vapor in passing through the pipes. The invention is primarily intended for use in pipe stills in which the oil is exposed to temperatures as high as 900 degrees F. and pressures of 600 pounds and upward. It

may, of course, be employed in other suitable types of stills, in which suitable conditions are found.

It has heretofore been proposed to introduce hydro-carbons or vapors downward into a still or heat chamber, for purposes of cracking, but so far as I am aware such downward movement was through the chamber itself, in a vertical direction, or n other words it extended through the main body of the apparatus. The movement of the vapors in my type of still or superheater is not in a vertical direction, nor is itnecessary to be downward, as a series of convolutions arranged in a horlzontal plane, 1

with upward feed, give the same results, and for some reasons are mechanically better.

In the apparatus referred to, the pressures employed are from four atmospheres up. with 20 atmospheres the superior limit. Ordinary operation pressure is about 100 pounds'to'the square inch. in my apparatus I employ pressures running up to 800 pounds or even more, and temperatures. as already-stated, around 900 degrees F. VVith such pressure it is practically immaterial, for the purpose of trapping out carbon and tar. whether the introduction or" the oil or vapor is upwardly or downwardly. (in the other hand. there are some reasons why the downward introduction regarded merely as Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

Serial No. 124,668.

to the feed pipe, is undesirable. The movement of the hydrocarbon through my coils is not due to gravity, but to the autogenous pressure working back against the pump or compressor in the feed ,pipe.

The movement through'the still is rela tively somewhat slow, and any falling of particles of tar and coke in a vertical direc tion would only result in their deposition upon and adherence to the lower and nearly horizontal walls of the pipes.

I have found by providing my still with a vertical element ext-ending upwardly to the first joint of the convolutions of the still, and introducing the hydrocarbon through this vertical large feed pipe, I can eliminate, l" settling, a considerable part of the car- Jon, coke, and tar, regardless" of the fact that the falling motion of these particles is in opposite direction to the feed of incoming hydrocarbon. The reason for this is the very slow rate of feed, my outside pipe be ing approximately one and one half inches in diameter, while the still pipe is five inches in diameter.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a furnace and super-heater coils therein, with a trap and receiving tank for deposits. Fig. 2 is a plan view on a reduced scale, with the top of the furnace removed, to show the connections of the coils and the location of the vertical feed pipe. Fig. 3 is a conventional diagram showing the elements in the system to which this invention is applied.

Referring to the drawings 1 is a furnace containing coils, 2, of a super-heater, into which the hydrocarbons to be cracked are introduced through the primary feed pipe 3 and a vertical pipe A} forming the first jointor convolution of the still itself. In efiect pipe 4 is a standpipe, connected at its lower end with a tank o'which serves as a trap for falling deposits. This trap is connected by means of a pipe 6 to a receiving tank 7.

In operation, the hydrocarbon is intro-- duced throu h the i e 3 at a considerable c 1 pressure, but in small volume, and expands into the 1 e iwhlch has volume per P i length of approximately 11 times tlmt of the feed pipe 3. The resultant movement in the pipe 4 is very slow. As soon a entering hydrocarbon has passed a sh .ns-

1 :i r 2, a tance upwardly in the pipe s, it uecoaes exposed to the temperature of the furnace. During the remainder of its passage upwardly through the furnace, it is fully exposed to both temperature and pressure of the still and particles of carbon and coke and tar which would otherwise have a tendency to fall upon and adhere to the walls of the coils 2, are drained backwardly and downwardly into and through the pipe 4:, to be deposited in the trap 5.

In order to complete the description of Fig. 3, the following is added: 10 is an oil supply tank. 11 is an oil pump. 12 is a precooler. I3 is a high pressure relief valve. 14 is a dephlegmator. The purpose of the relief or reduction valve 13 and precooler 12 is to cut down the cracking pressure and temperature before passing the oil onto the dephlegmator or other segregating or refining apparatus, the precooler acting to protect the valve from excessive heat which in practice is found to be destructive to any of the types of valves at present obtainable.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

In apparatus for the treatment of mineral oils, a pipe still having convolutions or sections approximating a horizontal position, a furnace containing said convolutions, and a vertical primary pipe section passing upwardly through the furnace, exposed to heat therein throughout a sufficient portion of its length to eflect cracking of oil contained therein, and connected at its upper end to an upper pipe or section of the still, and near its lower end to a feed pipe of reduced diameter, with a trap for carbon particles connected below the feed pipe.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

ALBERT R. JONES. 

